The situation across the Taiwan Strait has changed fundamentally, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said while meeting Gareth Evans, chief executive of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
Ma said Evans’ visit was meaningful to the country and to the region in the context of diminishing tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
The ICG is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.
PHOTO: CNA
Meanwhile, with Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) in hospital recuperating from surgery and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) on his way to China, Ma’s weekly luncheon with Siew, Wu and the heads of the executive and legislative branches of the government was not held yesterday.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Ma expressed hope at the luncheon to see more bills and legal revisions pass the legislature during this legislative session.
Bills pending approval include three green energy bills, the Organic Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法), the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) and a decree on the 228 Foundation.
Wu yesterday left for an eight-day visit to Beijing. He was scheduled to meet People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Jia Qinglin (賈慶林) last night and is expected to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) today.
The KMT chairman said before his departure that the talks would be governed by the principles of equality and dignity and that his interactions with Beijing officials would be conducted “as naturally as possible.”
“If they don’t mention the People’s Republic of China, we will not mention the Republic of China,” he said. “If they don’t mention the ‘one China’ principle, we won’t mention ‘one China with individual interpretations.’”
Wu’s delegation includes KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) and three KMT deputy chairmen — Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正), Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and John Chiang (蔣孝嚴).
Meanwhile, the president yesterday conferred a medal on Taipei European School CEO John Nixon for his effort to promote Taiwanese and European culture.
Ma honored Nixon with the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Purple Cordon for integrating German, British and French educational systems and establishing the Taipei European School, Ma said.
The school offers three different European curriculums for students from the ages of 3 to 14 years and a high school program for pupils aged 14 to 18.
The school’s 1,100-strong student body includes students from 61 countries.
In addition to classes presented in German, English or French, support is available for Dutch and Swedish. A Chinese language and culture program is also offered to students of all ages, as well as the opportunity to include Spanish, Korean and Japanese as language options in the international baccalaureate diploma.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
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